Baqaei Accuses US of Threatening to Starve Iranians

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has accused the United States of openly threatening to commit war crimes by seeking to starve the Iranian people through a blockade.

In a post on X on Saturday, Baqaei cited remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that Iranians would eventually have to eat. He described the statement as an open and insolent threat to starve the Iranian population through a blockade.

“This is yet another admission that Washington is pursuing war crimes, compounding the atrocities it has already committed in its wars of aggression and economic terrorism against Iran,” Baqaei said.

He stressed that despite decades of failed attempts to force Iran into submission through coercion, threats, sanctions, terrorism, and aggression, Washington continues to repeat the samecrmistakes while presenting its policies “under new names.”

The Iranian spokesman described the US approach as a textbook example of what historian Barbara Tuchman called a “March of Folly,” referring to governments that persist with disastrous policies, refuse to learn from past failures, and become increasingly entrenched in their mistakes after successive defeats.

Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the cycle of confrontation following the latest round of what Tehran described as unprovoked US-“Israeli” aggression against the Islamic Republic, which began on February 28.

However, Washington subsequently attempted to undermine Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz by establishing what Tehran described as an unsafe corridor near the Omani coast. The US also resumed aerial attacks against Iran and imposed a naval blockade, which Tehran says violated the agreement to end the war.

On August 24, Washington announced a new round of sanctions against Iran under the so-called “Operation Economic Outcast,” threatening secondary penalties against countries and entities maintaining trade ties with Tehran. The measures were presented as an attempt to achieve through economic pressure what US military aggression had failed to accomplish.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions targeted Iran’s financial networks worldwide, warning that no partner was beyond Washington’s reach.

Meanwhile, a recent New York Times report said US efforts to tighten the blockade by closing Iran’s land routes had failed, as neighboring countries were reluctant to comply with Washington’s demands.